Copilot Code lets Microsoft 365 Copilot users build trackers, dashboards and small apps from a prompt. What it is, who can use it, the five admin settings to check before it reaches everyone, and where it fits next to Power BI.
Microsoft 365 Copilot now has a Code tab. Describe a tracker, a dashboard or a small app, and Copilot builds it for you, using what it already knows about your work. It began rolling out to Frontier programme tenants in late October 2026.
For most people this will be the first time they can make a working app without opening Power Apps or asking IT. That is useful, and it is also why administrators should look at the settings before it reaches everyone.
What is Copilot Code?
Copilot Code is a tab in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. You describe what you want in plain English, such as a tracker for supplier renewals or a dashboard of open support cases, and Copilot writes and runs the code to build it. It grounds what it builds through Work IQ, so it can draw on the documents, emails and business data you already have access to. Finished projects can be published and shared inside your organisation, and data access continues to follow each user's own permissions.
What Code builds is hosted on Copilot Managed Runtime, which runs apps within your Microsoft 365 tenant. Managed Runtime is in public preview and also hosts apps built in Cowork and Copilot Studio. We covered the Copilot Studio side in Microsoft managed apps are on by default.
Who can use it, and when
Copilot Code is a preview for Frontier tenants, and Microsoft's documentation says a preview like this may never become generally available. Users need:
- a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence
- a Copilot spending policy assigned to them, with usage-based billing in Copilot Credits
- the unified Copilot app
- the Windows target channel set to Beta
Microsoft's September announcement also mentioned a preview for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers later in the year, but no date has been confirmed.
The settings to check
- 1Who gets it. Users covered by the "Allow new Agents and services" setting receive Code automatically. Check who that includes before rollout reaches you.
- 2Where code runs. Cloud coding is on by default for eligible users and local coding is off. The admin setting is "Code execution location". Keep local execution off unless you have a reason to change it.
- 3GitHub. Users can only connect GitHub if an administrator allows it. Decide whether you want that.
- 4Spending. Code is billed in Copilot Credits. Set spending policies under Copilot, then Cost management, before people start building.
- 5Sharing. At present only static apps can be shared, as a link limited to your organisation, and only from the cloud. Agree who may publish and how shared apps are named and owned.
A few things we could not find documented yet: data residency for Managed Runtime, how Purview and data loss prevention policies apply to apps it hosts, and pricing beyond Copilot Credits. Ask your Microsoft contact before you let Code build anything that touches sensitive data.
Where it fits
Copilot Code is good for personal and team tools that would otherwise be a spreadsheet: trackers, lists, simple dashboards. It is not a replacement for your reporting. A dashboard Code builds is not governed like a Power BI report on a shared semantic model, and two people asking for "sales this month" may get two different numbers. For figures leadership relies on, keep them in Power BI, and use Code for the small tools around them.
Apps that need proper data storage, write-back and governance belong somewhere sturdier, such as Fabric Apps or Power Apps.
What to do now
Check your Frontier enrolment and the five settings above, agree a short rule on what Code may and may not be used for, and tell people where official numbers live. If you would like help drawing that line between personal tools and governed reporting, book a free audit.
Related reading
- Microsoft managed apps are on by default. Here is what to switch off before anyone builds one
- Is Power BI Copilot worth turning on, and what it needs first
- Agent sprawl: why ten clever agents add up to less than one good workflow
- AI and analytics
Simon Devine
Managing Director
Part of the Hopton Analytics team, delivering governed analytics programmes for UK mid-market organisations.
